Marcus/Rocco
"You relying too much on instinct."
Seraphina said it less than five minutes into training.
Which probably meant she'd been waiting to say it.
I lowered my blades slightly, breathing harder than I wanted to show.
"The instinct worked."
"For now." The answer came immediately. Cold and precise. Annoying.
Morning sunlight cut through the trees surrounding the clearing, but the
atmosphere still tense after yesterday's hunt.
Because yesterday had changed something. Not just for me, for all of us.
Riley leaned against a tree nearby, arms crossed as she watched Callie
clean black blood from her whip.
Noah sat on the grass holding an ice pack against his shoulder.
"You know," he muttered, "I think getting attacked by monsters is
starting to negatively affect my health."
"You got hit by a branch," Riley replied.
"It was an aggressive branch."
"It was a tree."
"Exactly. Nature is against me."
I almost smiled at their bickering. But my focus shifted back to
Seraphina.
"You said I relied too much on instinct," I said. "What does that even
mean?"
"It means," she replied calmly, "you fight well once combat starts. But
before that?"
She stepped closer. "You're not reading enough."
I frowned slightly.
"I tracked the demons."
"You tracked movement," she corrected. "Not intention."
That paused me.
Callie looked slightly at that but stayed quiet.
Seraphina continued. "Demons don't wander randomly anymore. Especially
not now."
"Aldo," I said.
Her gaze shifted to me briefly.
"Yes." The name alone made the air feel heavier.
She crouched slightly near the dirt before drawing several rough lines
across the ground with a stick.
"Look carefully." I stepped closer.
At first, it just looked messy.
Random marks. But then I saw it.
"These are routes," I said slowly.
"Yes." She pointed at intersecting lines.
"Those demons didn't attack the town because it was close. They attacked
because this route funnels civilians toward narrow exists."
Riley straightened slightly behind me. "A choke point."
Seraphina nodded once. "They hunted efficiently." Silence settled for a moment.
That felt worse than mindless monsters.
Noah slowly lowered the ice pack from his shoulder.
"…Okay," he muttered. "I officially prefer stupid demons."
"No, you don't," Riley replied.
"I absolutely do."
Seraphina ignored both of them.
"You need to start thinking ahead," she continued. "Not just reacting
once a fight begins."
I crossed my arms slightly. "So what? We become strategists now?"
"If you want to survive long enough."
Fair enough.
The next few hours were different from normal training.
Less fighting.
More tracking.
And honestly? It was harder.
Seraphina led us deeper into the forest again, stopping periodically to
point out nearly invisible details.
Broken bark.
Disrupted grass.
A scent lingering in the air that I still couldn't fully detect.
Callie noticed most of them instantly. Which was irritating.
"You're focusing too much on the obvious," she said while crouched
beside faint tracks near a tree.
I walked over. "There's barely anything there."
"Exactly."
"That's not helpful."
She glanced up at me.
"You keep looking for signs of movement," she said. "Look for signs of
avoidance instead."
"…what"
Callie pointed toward a patch of untouched ground.
"Animals avoid demon paths before humans notice them."
I stared at the area again. Then finally noticed it. No tracks,
disturbed leaves, nothing. Because nothing had gone near it.
"…Oh."
"See it now?"
"Yeah."
Her expression shifted slightly.
Further behind us, Noah suddenly stopped walking.
"Wait."
We all looked back at him.
His expression had sharpened completely now.
"What?" Riley asked.
He pointed toward the left side of the forest.
"The birds stopped."
Silence. Then I noticed it too. There was no sound or movement. The
forest had gone still again.
Seraphina's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Good catch."
Noah blinked once. "…Really?"
"Yes."
A grin immediately appeared on his face. "I would like everyone to
remember this moment forever."
"Don't ruin it," Riley sighed.
We moved carefully after that. And this time, I noticed things earlier.
Not perfectly but earlier.
A scratched mark, movement where there shouldn't have been any, pressure
in the air.
Small things, but they mattered.
"Stop." The word left my mouth before I fully thought about it. Everyone
froze immediately.
Ahead of us-
Movement. Not visible but there, watching.
I lowered my stance slightly. Not rushing or forcing. Reading.
The difference felt subtle, but important.
The demon lunged from the trees. And this time we were ready.
Riley moved first, throwing a sharp flash of light directly toward its
face using the reflective mirror Seraphina had given her earlier.
The creature recoiled instinctively. Creating an opening.
Callie's whip snapped forward immediately, wrapping around its arm
before violently pulling it off balance.
I moved the second it staggered. No wasted motion.
I slipped inside its reach, driving a hard thigh kick into its leg
before following with a brutal elbow strike across its jaw.
The demon snarled and swung wildly- I ducked beneath it and answered
with a sharp body kick that folded it slightly forward. Then my blades moved.
Fast.
One cut.
Two.
The third strike severed cleanly through its head.
The demon collapsed.
Silence returned.
Nobody moved for a second.
Then Noah slowly raised a finger.
"…Okay that one was cleaner," he admitted.
I exhaled slowly, lowering my blades.
He wasn't wrong. It had been cleaner, because I had seen it coming.
Seraphina stepped toward the fallen demon.
"You adjusted," she said.
I nodded slightly. "Still not enough."
"No," she agreed calmly. "But better."
Coming from her? That was
basically applause.
As we started moving again, Riley walked beside me quietly for a moment.
"You noticed it too, right?" she asked softly.
I glanced at her. "The speed?"
She nodded.
"I shouldn't have reacted that fast yesterday."
No, she shouldn't have. Neither should Noah.
"The bracelet," I said quietly.
Riley looked toward my wrist briefly.
"You think it's affecting us?"
"I think…" I hesitated slightly. "It's responding to people willing to
fight beside it."
"That sounds dangerous."
"Probably."
Noah suddenly appeared beside us.
"Hey," he said. "If I develop superpowers, I want enhanced
attractiveness."
Riley stared at him. "You think that's possible?"
"I believe in the bracelet."
Despite myself, I laughed.
And for a moment, the weight didn't feel quite crushing anymore.